Fashion extravaganzas: I've seen a few. Shows starring circus acrobats, Playboy models and wolves; catwalks carpeted in thick white fur or suspended above swimming pools; models blindfolded by their hats or reduced to crawling on all fours by their impossibly high heels. But as a fashion show, the latest Star Wars prequel beats most of them hands down. It's got everything: fabulous clothes, beautiful women, staggering sets, and a dark side that would give Alexander McQueen the heebyjeebies.

Senator Amidala and Anakin Skywalker might have dialogue so wooden it makes Yoda's pig Latin syntax sound like Wordsworth, but with clothes like this, who cares? And at two hours 25 minutes, not even Yves Saint Laurent's Pompidou Centre swansong can beat George Lucas for sheer scale. Great frocks, and plenty of 'em.

In fact, Star Wars has a rich (if dubious) fashion history. Princess Leia's infamous "doughnut ears" hairstyle was as much a staging post of the fashion rites of 70s girlhood as our first legwarmers. And as for the gold slave-girl bikini in Return of the Jedi - well, not many film costumes have sufficient erotic power to inspire a Friends episode two decades later.

Before filming began on The Phantom Menace, chief costume designer Trisha Biggar worked out a colour scheme for each different planet. Amidala's home, the planet Naboo, for instance, is depicted in the palette of impressionist paintings. Yet it wasn't until this, the second of the "prequel" trilogy, that the aesthetics truly came together.

We'll come to Natalie Portman in a moment, but for sheer up-to-the-moment, so-hip-it-hurts fashion sense, the Kate Moss of Attack of the Clones is, without doubt, Anakin Skywalker (played by Hayden Christensen). If we didn't already know he was destined to become Darth Vader, his clothes would give it away - baddies always have the sharpest suits. He might have a hairstyle so dodgy that even David Beckham would struggle to carry it off, but his kimono-wrap jacket is a dead ringer for the latest collection from the menswear label of the moment, Christian Dior.

The kimono style is classic Star Wars: it gives the Jedi a certain stateliness, and because it's a non-western shape, it is unlikely (in western eyes, at least) to look dated. And as if the Dior references weren't enough, Anakin has a knack of tucking his trousers into flat boots, a catwalk styling trick so avant-garde even Moss isn't doing it yet.

If there's one elder the precocious young Skywalker could learn a few fashion tips from, it's Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). This renegade Jedi gives away his dark side with his flair for accessorising. His cape (very Prada) is fixed at the neck with a silver chain, of the clunky type that men wear as keychains on their jeans. Capes, which are usually seen only on catwalk models or cartoon heroes, have a tendency to look a bit camp - OK, totally camp - and the chain works to counter this.

But the ultimate poster girl for intergalactic gorgeousness is Senator Amidala. While other beautiful young actresses seem emotionally stunted by their looks, Natalie Portman - like Catherine Deneuve or Michelle Pfeiffer - wears her beauty lightly, and is all the more attractive for it. Her fashion sense benefits, in this film, from her career change from queen to senator: as queen in The Phantom Menace, her outfits, hairstyles and make-up were ceremonial rather than chic. And now that she is not constrained by royal etiquette, she gets to show off a tummy that would make Britney jealous.

The late Talitha Getty, photographed in kaftan and jewellery on a Morocco rooftop, is this season's hippest fashion muse, with every glossy magazine vying to capture her wafty, bohemian fabulousness. But Lucas has beaten them to it: the scene where Senator Amidala arrives at Naboo dressed in a dramatic, flowing, jewelled halter-neck dress (very Emanuel Ungaro) and ruched sleeves (very everywhere) is pure Getty. Combined with snaking arm clasps and bare shoulders, it makes for a look that Chloe designer Phoebe Philo will surely be drooling over.

Cut to a meadow picnic, and the senator has changed into a killer off-the-shoulder gold net with floral embroidery dress, the image of the latest Matthew Williamson collection. This, I'm thinking, is one killer holiday wardrobe. And it doesn't end there: the filmy ivory nightdress, worn with dishevelled hair and chunky midnight-blue oversized cardigan, is an astute nod to the little-dress-big-jacket look being pushed by Stella McCartney.

In The Phantom Menace, Amidala was 14; now that she's grown up a bit, she gets to wear much racier outfits. For dinner à deux with Anakin, she is squeezed into a slithery black corset worthy of Moulin Rouge, with matching long black gloves and a snake of black beads wound around her neck. Senator? The girl is a goddess. Little wonder the boy is smitten. And when Anakin takes her to his home planet, she looks every inch the scrumptious teenage girlfriend in her tummy-baring pastel crop top and funny hair.

But there are still plenty of showpieces to remind us that this is an epic blockbuster. Her hooded cape is not only in this summer's fashionable fabric, metallic brocade - Prada has a pair of kitten heels that would match exactly - but the outsize silhouette is spookily similar to the lavender Little Red Riding Hood outfit that opened McQueen's show in Paris in March, and so hasn't even made it into the stores yet. That groovy opening sequence tells us that all this took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Who are they kidding? In fashion terms, this film is the future.